The Magician’s Nephew: Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

The Lion paces back and forth, singing. This song is “softer and more lilting” than the song that accompanied the emergence of the stars and sun. It draws forth grass and a light, ruffling wind; soon, trees start to appear.

Though the children long to watch new life springing forth, they keep getting interrupted. Uncle Andrew keeps trying to steal Digory’s ring. The Witch, seeing this, menaces him with her lamp-post arm. Uncle Andrew summons his courage and complains that the Witch has disgraced him by robbing a jeweler, demanding an ostentatious lunch, and assaulting the police. The Cabby interrupts, saying that now is the time for watching and listening, not talking.

The children watch as trees and wildflowers continue to blossom; Strawberry eagerly dines on the fresh new grass. The Lion gradually prowls closer and closer to the group. Polly is thrilled as she observes that the emergence of different living things correspond to the varying notes of the Lion’s song; this wondrous discovery takes away her fear. Digory and the Cabby feel nervous about the Lion’s approach, however, and Uncle Andrew is downright scared.

Suddenly the Witch hurls the iron bar she’s holding right at the Lion. It strikes him between the eyes, but he keeps walking toward them at a steady pace. The Witch and Uncle Andrew start to run, but the children stand still—they’re apprehensive yet curiously eager for the Lion to acknowledge their presence.

Uncle Andrew picks himself up from the stream into which he’s fallen and, spluttering, demands that Digory put on his ring immediately, but Digory stands firm, explaining that he and Polly want to stay and experience this world. Uncle Andrew says that perhaps he’d enjoy it if he were younger and had a gun handy.

Just then, Polly notices a little lamp-post that’s sprouted out of the ground and is growing just like a tree. Digory points out that the lamp-post sprouted from the bar that the Witch had unsuccessfully thrown. This excites Uncle Andrew. He daydreams about the “commercial possibilities” of this world. If one buried scrap iron, he speculates, they would be able to grow trains or battleships. And the climate would be ideal for a health resort. In order to achieve any of this, of course, he’d first have to kill the Lion.

When Uncle Andrew refers to this place as “the land of youth,” Digory’s interest is piqued, too, as he recalls Aunt Letty’s conversation with the visitor. When he asks Uncle Andrew if he thinks something in this land might cure Mabel, Uncle Andrew replies that it “isn’t a chemist’s shop.” Digory is disgusted by Uncle Andrew’s lack of regard for his own sister. He resolves to ask the Lion for help directly. Uncle Andrew trails after the children at first, but is afraid to get too close.

As Digory approaches the Lion, he notices that the Lion’s song has changed once again. It sounds wilder, making the hearer “want to rush at other people and either hug them or fight them.” It also causes the surrounding land to swell into mounds of varying sizes. When the mounds burst, animals emerge. Dogs, stags, frogs, and panthers burst from the earth; birds, butterflies, and bees fill the air; even an elephant comes forth, creating a small earthquake as he does so. Now the Lion’s song is practically drowned out by various animal noises.

Strawberry the horse trots up and joins the crowd of other beasts, looking much livelier than the downtrodden cab-horse of London. Digory watches as the Lion, now silent, walks among the animals, occasionally stopping to touch noses with two animals at a time—two leopards at a time, for instance. The animals he touches walk away from the other animals of their species and stand in a circle around him, gazing at the Lion. At last, there’s a solemn silence.

The Lion stares unblinkingly at the animals. Eventually, the animals change—smaller ones (like rabbits) growing much bigger, and bigger ones (like the elephants) getting a bit smaller. Many animals cock their heads as if they’re trying to understand something. The Lion gives a long breath. The animals sway like wind-blown trees, and there is a “pure, cold, difficult music” overhead. There is a flash, and everyone hears a deep, wild voice saying, “Narnia, awake. Love. Think. Speak.”